Heat Wave
by Makoto Sawanaga
Summary: Two weeks after the infection a lone survivor meets up with an unexpectedly young survivor as they both attempt to make there way to the Toronto e-vac station during a blistering heat wave who's affects have angered the horde.
1. Chapter 1 The Meeting

The smell of rotting flesh filled my nostrils as I entered the dark hallway of the apartment building. There were bodies piled everywhere in the hall. Most of them half eaten and many that had began decomposing weeks ago, bone was exposed on some of them where claws and teeth had ripped away their flesh.

I ventured farther down the hall, more bodies and no sound. This was no big surprise, after all only days before I had watched my entire family turn ,nobody I was close too had lasted longer than a week.

Though I had thought for a moment that maybe the sign on the apartment building's wall "Safe house ahead" would have had some value and at least some survivors left. At this point I would have even settled for a wounded survivor just to escape the loneliness.

At the end of the hall was a large red door, it was barred and had several locks and chains on it. There were others like this, safe rooms they called them. Though their safety was never truly assured. Many a time on my attempts to find survivors I had come across these , and they had only served to be false hope for my optimistic imagination.

Stepping closer to the door holding my shotgun tight( as you never really be sure of what you will find behind them) I peered through the bars. There, much to my amazement in the middle of the room sat a child of maybe 14. He was holding a hunting rifle and facing towards the barred exit door. As I drew nearer to the door I could hear him mumbling something... something in a very horse voice.

"Toronto...Toronto,...Toronto"

The boy suddenly stood up and faced me with his gun shouldered in seconds as if it was routine.

"Who the fuck are you!" he screamed in his horse choking voice.

Taken aback by the boy actions and worried the fist survivor I met would be insane, I stumbled with my words before finally stuttering out "Dm...itry.. Dimitry I'm Dimitry"

The boy lowered his rifle slowly until it was facing the ground as he said "So, you can talk, you couldn't be infected and better yet if you lasted this long you ain't weak" his eyes lit up much like mine had when I saw him, happy just to see someone else who had survived.

Even with that said he raised his rifle as he began to undo some of the locks. The door swung open and began to take a step in when the boy exclaimed at me.

"Hey, just because you ain't an infected doesn't mean your a trustworthy person, I'll be taking your gun"

I stood there for a moment pondering if handing over my gun was a wise choice, but then with the realization that a kid is a lot easier to deal with than a bunch of hungry zombies. I handed him my gun and stepped inside.

The safe room was small, it had a chipped and blood stained concrete floor and a peeling plaster ceiling. The walls were painted with a dark shade of yellow, now playing host to the numerous works of graffiti that were carved on to it. Across the floor were books , pamphlets and other reading material. There was a shelf on one side, upon it lay-ed first aid kits and pipe-bombs. On the other side of the room lay-ed an assortment of ammunition and gun maintenance tools.

I turned to the boy slowly as he placed my shotgun on the metal shelf. "whats your name?" I asked him.

He turned back at me and chuckled "me... I'm Alek"


	2. Chapter 2 The Morning

I awoke with sweat making my shirt cling to my back. I turned my head to face the door. Alek was standing there staring a something on the other side of the bars.

He hadn't got sleep last night. I had told him that we should switch turns sleeping and guarding but he refused, telling me I wasn't trusted enough for that.

I stood up and walked over to him, cracking my neck as I walked across the blood stained concrete.

"What are you looking at out there?" I Asked him.

"thermometer... it went up six degrees last night"

I walked over to the door and faced were he was staring. There at the end of the hall was a large ornate thermometer.

I stepped back from the door when I noticed that the locks and the bar had been removed. Looking around the room I also saw that the books had been put on the metal shelf and the med kits had been taken. The ground where the ammunition once was was now clear, turning to alek I saw he had packed it into the ammo pouches he had on.

"Alek?" I asked

He tuned to me and said "oh right" as he tossed me one of his pouches."It's got a lot of ammo in it , will probably hold us over until the next house"

"The next house?" I asked.

"Yeah, before I was separated from my group we were going from room to room. we had planed to get to the room by the overpass next and then walk down the highway until we reach Toronto"

"Toronto , why Toronto?"

"When the infection first started there were these broadcasts about an E-vac centre in the air Canada centre, we planed to go there next."

I hooked the ammo pouch on to my belt and picked my shotgun off the shelf. The gun was still loaded so I used the strap to put it onto my shoulder. "anything else we need?'

"yeah, take the pipe bombs off the shelf...we are going to need those."

I walked over to the shelf and stuffed the bombs into my pockets. Then I turned back to Alek. "we ready now?"

"yeah" Alek said a he walked across the room's floor. He stared at the exit door for a moment before pushing it open and walking out into the morning light, I followed close behind.

While I was sleeping in the safe room I had wished that I could leave it to sleep out side. (but knowing that was too dangerous) The room had been stuffy and hot and sleep had been near impossible. I had woken out at least twenty time because of the heat, but now outside of the safe room I longed only for it's shade. Outside was like being forced to stand right next to a fire and the light felt blinding.

Alek had lay-ed out the plan when we first stepped out. The plan was simple walk down this street until we reach the on ramp , then get into the safe room below it and once the morning came, walk the highway into Toronto. I was thankful we discussed it earlier because it felt too hot to speak now.

By this time we were but a few blocks from the overpass. In fact I could see it from where we were walking. We had been fortunate enough to only come in contact with a few weak zombies so far. As we made our way down the street walking past abandoned cars and piles of bodies ( who's stench was now amplified by the heat) I begun to hear a sound off in the distance. At first the sound sounded like a low rumble them as it got closer it sounded like a herd of wild animals on stampede. I turned to Alek.

"RUN TANK"

I turned behind me only for a second before running down the street. What I saw still haunts me to this day. It was a beast of massive proportions with massive legs and arms. It growled like a bear and ran faster than any animal I'd ever seen. I soon found myself quickly weaving in and out of cars right behind Alek. Then before I knew it there were zombies everywhere. Another sound rang out , a sound Alek would later call the sound of the horde. It was a sound of roaring and growling.

I dove over a black car and hit my leg of the hood. I soon found myself sliding across the asphalt on my knees I could feel the small stones and rough surfaces ripping through my jeans and against my flesh. The blacktop was now stained with my blood as I came to a stop by hitting a yellow SUV at the end of the street.

The beast was now only a few feet away from me and alek was just noticing I was not behind him. The beast smashed down the street throwing cars cars like they were paperweights. With the beast only a few feet a way I began opening fire with my shotgun. The shots seemed to little more then aggravate him. I prepared for the worst when suddenly I heard a loud blast next to my ear. Alek, was standing nest to me with his rifle. He let off another shot into the beast's head before helping me up off the ground.

"try to keep up 'eh!"


End file.
